


Post-Ephialtes

by InsertImaginativeNameHere



Category: Baccano!
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Cuddling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Kissing, M/M, Mentions of Death, Nightmares, Ronny thinks he's smooth and isn't, Somebody hug Maiza, Suicidal Thoughts, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-07 08:35:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11055276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsertImaginativeNameHere/pseuds/InsertImaginativeNameHere
Summary: Maiza awakens after a nightmare to find he has company. Persistent company, intent on distracting him and finding his own amusement. In somewhat surprising and interesting ways





	Post-Ephialtes

**Author's Note:**

> title comes from a rare synonym for nightmare I found when trying to title this fic and I'm a pretentious fuck so gonna use it for a title because IT'S FUCKIN GREEK and I can't title. Look, I am consistent in only one way. Consistently terrible. I'm fucked.
> 
> Also sidenote, I accidentally typed 'Bitch' instead as 'Brother' for the first word of this fic and cackled into oblivion I don't know how I did this but it will amuse me forever

_ “Brother...help me,” Gretto was begging as Szilard approached, but Maiza was frozen. How many times had he lived through this scene? How many times had the outcome been the same? Gretto was reaching out to him and then it wasn’t Szilard anymore, it was their father. Their father, and Gretto had a black eye as he begged,  _ **_implored_ ** _ Maiza for his help. _

_ Their father placed his right hand on Gretto’s head. Maiza tried to close his eyes against the inevitability, tried to look away but instead he found himself locking eyes with his brother, feeling the same helpless hopelessness he always did. Gretto’s eyes were too young, a child’s, then he was sucked upwards, consumed, gone. _

_ Their father turned, fixing Maiza with his cold, cruel eyes. He reached out and placed his hand on Maiza’s head. Sighing, Maiza accepted it. He didn’t even try to run. Even if he’d been able to, he wouldn’t have. He deserved this. _

_ “Useless,” his father hissed, and Maiza finally managed to close his eyes and he felt the world crumbling as he was ultimately devoured. _

_ Nothingness. _

_ At last. _

 

-

 

He woke up, not urgently, not breathing frantically, but resigned to being alive. He felt empty. Propping himself up on his pillows, he squeezed his eyes shut and tried to suppress his own feelings, bite back tears. 

A floorboard creaked. Maiza’s eyes flew open, reaching instinctively for the knife next to his bed. He gripped the hilt firmly, squinting into the darkness. Cautiously he stepped out of bed, blinking to adjust to the light and fumbling for his glasses, sliding them on. He peered around the darkened room, wondering if this was a case of simple paranoia. There didn’t seem to be anyone there, and there wasn’t anywhere to hide in the sparse room. 

Just as he was relaxing, loosening his grip on the knife, he heard a stirring in the air and turned to see a shadow in the corner, a faint orange cigarette-glow flickering. Maiza’s heart was pounding and he tensed to strike when a slow, laconic voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Relax, Maiza. It’s only me.”

He exhaled. “Ronny. Needlessly dramatic as ever. I could’ve sworn I locked my door.” Not that it would stop Ronny. No, Maiza knew exactly what the demon’s response would be.

“Was it? Hm. I didn’t notice. Well, no matter.” Word-for-word what Maiza had predicted. Naturally. “I’m here and here I am. You can put the knife down.”

Maiza obliged. “What are you doing here, Ronny?” That he’d shown up right now, after Maiza’s nightmare, could be no coincidence.

He saw Ronny smile in the faint light. “You’re quite right. It’s not a coincidence.” He crossed the room, taking a seat on Maiza’s bed next to him. “I thought I’d check in, see how things are.” While his tone was offhand and casual, the concern seemed genuine, only to be brushed off by a dismissive, “No matter.”

“I’m fine, Ronny,” Maiza lied.

Ronny scoffed dismissively. “Are you? That’d be a first. Maiza - in the many years we’ve been acquainted, how often has ‘I’m fine’ been true? Why, I can count the instances on one hand. Anyhow, I’m dropping in and I might be inclined to spend the night. May I?”

“You’re...you’re going to stay anyway, regardless of what I say, aren’t you?”

Ronny shook his head. “I wouldn’t impose. If you wish me to leave, you merely have to say the word and I’ll go. Well, Maiza?”

The part of him that craved isolation lost. There was something about the way Ronny sauntered in that wouldn’t be turned away. He made himself comfortable in your life and refused to leave. All these years and Maiza could still only scratch the surface of Ronny’s motivations. 

“You can stay,” Maiza said, as if there could have been another answer. Ronny hummed a murmur of assent and leaned back, stretching his legs out on Maiza’s bed, shoes mysteriously off. He stared up at the ceiling, smiling with his usual, easy, cool arrogance. The problem with smug omniscients was that by nature they were smug omniscients. Maiza sighed. “Why are you here, Ronny?”

“I thought you could use the company. It doesn’t do to stew inside one’s head after a nightmare. So I’m told anyway.” Ronny shrugged absently.

“I have nightmares frequently. You hardly show up after every one.”

“Perhaps I’d had enough. Perhaps the content of this dream was such I felt you needed the company. Perhaps I made the decision on a whim and perhaps I thought about it carefully, weighed up your response. But no matter.”

“Which is true?” Maiza asked tentatively.

“All, to some degree,” Ronny replied offhandedly. “I’m somewhat offended, Maiza, that you think I would lie about that.” Maiza opened his mouth to apologise but Ronny waved a dismissive hand. “No matter. I suppose it is somewhat deserved.” He placed his hands behind his head and, exhaling smoke, stared up at the ceiling, gold eyes closing but Maiza knew he was still observing everything with all of his habitual detached cunning. “Don’t worry about it.”

Maiza fell back on his bed, exhausted. He didn’t much hope to sleep, nor did he particularly want to. He looked over at Ronny, who at the very least seemed content, and felt very alone. Somewhat experimentally, he closed his eyes.

He felt his glasses slide off his face and heard them folding up, set on the side next to the knife. He heard an amused smirk from Ronny.

He opened his eyes. “Are you going to stay here all night? I’m not sure how good a bedfellow you’ll find me. I-” he cut off. Unspoken memories of his dream bubbled up in his head. Gretto, helpless. Their father. Szilard. Neither were threats anymore but they both made Maiza feel shaky and uncertain. Afraid. 

He met Ronny’s eyes, trembling ever-so-slightly and more than anything he wanted the comfort of someone to hold him. “I’ll feel like something of a fool if I ask this but-”

“It’s alright, Maiza. No need to ask anything.” Ronny tapped the side of his head. “I’ve got it in hand.” Of course he did. It was Ronny. Ronny always did. He shouldn’t have worried.

So it was something of a surprise when Ronny’s hand drifted to Maiza’s cheek and their lips connected, a sudden spark passing between them. Not Ronny’s cigarette, which had gone, presumably stubbed out though Maiza hadn’t seen him do it. Something more electric. Ronny kissed him urgently and Maiza couldn’t think how to react. The taste of Ronny’s tongue against his (tobacco, honey, smoke), the feel of his lips (soft, transcendental) and Maiza, startled, couldn’t bring himself to pull away. Did he even want to? Something in him definitely didn’t, and that something kissed back, inexpert and clumsy, sorely out of practise. After a moment or so, he found himself and broke the kiss, pulling back. Ronny looked somewhat surprised.

“Is there something the matter, Maiza?”

“No, it was...interesting. I just wasn’t expecting it.” That was putting it lightly. The fact Ronny was male (or appeared as such) wasn’t what had Maiza on the back foot. The fact it was  _ Ronny _ was. Ronny, the sardonic, obnoxious  _ demon _ who had been a constant fixture for some time. Ronny who was just so, so thoroughly  _ Ronny _ . The last thing Maiza had expected from him was this.

Ronny was quiet. “You truly weren’t, were you? Well. Excuse me. I may have jumped to conclusions as to what you meant by intimacy. I would blame your subconscious for being so vague, but the fault lies solely with myself and my presumptuousness. I hope I haven’t cause any offense.”

“No, none,” Maiza chuckled. Ronny flustered was something to witness. It didn’t happen all that often, but it was always amusing on the rare occasion that it did. It was so human, from the otherwise aloof, composed not-demon. “I wasn’t offended, Ronny. Yes, it was forward. But you’re always forward, wilful. I’m not saying it was altogether unwelcome.” Realising what he’d said, Maiza cursed himself.

Ronny’s smirk, meanwhile, reappeared instantly. “Well then. Is that my cue for an encore?”

Maiza reddened and Ronny’s eyebrows quirked upwards as he leaned forward. “I think I’ve had enough surprises. Thank you. I appreciate you being here. Really I do.”

“You’re welcome,” Ronny replied with no small degree of amusement. “This has been an interesting experience, hasn’t it now?” He stretched out, looping an arm around Maiza with a wicked glint in his eyes. “I wonder where else this could possibly go.”

“Ronny,” Maiza warned. “No more surprises.”

“I  _ was _ teasing, but no matter.” Ronny rolled his eyes and moved to sit up again. Impulsively Maiza stopped him, leaning into the contact. Ronny looked a little taken aback again. Only a little, but for him a little was a lot.

“Can we maybe stay like this a while?” Maiza managed tentatively. He saw Ronny smile.

“I believe this is what they call mixed signals,” Ronny remarked drily. 

“I just...having you here...after what happened-” Maiza shuddered and Ronny touched his shoulder gently. “I’m sorry. I’m a little shaken, as you can tell. I should be used to this by now. Over two hundred years, but the guilt never goes away.”

“You dreamt of being devoured. You welcomed it.” Maiza nodded, unable to look at Ronny. “When Firo and the others became immortal too, you asked him to devour you. He refused. You still crave release from this?” 

“You said if any of us tired of immortality, we could ask you to devour us,” Maiza said quietly.

“I did say that, didn’t I?” Ronny forced Maiza to look at him for a second. “Are you asking, Maiza?”

“What would the answer be if I did?”

“Well,” Ronny mused. “Devouring you after that? Now  _ that _ would be mixed signals.” He chuckled softly, then a grim sincerity entered his voice. “But no, Maiza. You know that as a member of the same family, I am forbidden from any such action. Even if you asked, and even if I wanted to.”

“Sometimes I think that’s why you joined,” Maiza muttered. Ronny said nothing. “Ronny...do you ever feel like you’re becoming more human? That it’s rubbing off on you?” Maiza asked, suddenly changing the topic.

Ronny frowned. “I’m not sure what you’re driving at, Maiza, but no matter. I’ll oblige. Being in the company of humans routinely admittedly does rub off, so if you mean metaphorically, in temperament, perhaps. It’s hard not to be changed somehow after an encounter with, say, Isaac and Miria. And who’s to say where the line of humanity is drawn, what aspects of my behaviour may be considered human and where inhumanity comes into play? Well, no matter. Physically and literally, at least, nothing has changed. I am what I always have been. It is admittedly an intriguing  question. It’s been a while since you asked about my nature like this, hasn’t it?” He narrowed his eyes. “Is this about what happened?”

Maiza shifted awkwardly. “I suppose I never really thought about you being, I don’t know... _ ahem _ .”

“You mean interested sexually? Romantically?”

“I wasn’t sure you were capable of the former and no offense Ronny, you’re too cynical by far for the latter.”

“My interest in the former is in passing and as for the latter.” He scoffed. “You’re somewhat correct. Amusement, on the other hand…”

“So this is entertainment to you?” Maiza snapped, somewhat irked.

“I didn’t say that, Maiza. As always, I value you greatly as a friend. I want you to understand that. This isn’t meant to be toying with your feelings. I merely thought you might appreciate the diversion.”

“How very considerate of you,” Maiza muttered, more snidely than he intended.

“It is, actually,” Ronny remarked. “As your friend, not to mention as a fellow capo of the Martillo family, I have every right to express my concern. Anyone in my position would be entitled to worry. Human or…” He smirked. “Otherwise.”

“I’m sorry,” Maiza sighed. “I didn’t mean it like that. You know I didn’t. I didn’t mean to insult…”

“My humanity? Rest assured, Maiza, it would take a good deal more to insult me. I don’t take offense easily.”

Maiza snorted. “Oh, of course. Which is why you’re permanently insulted whenever people don’t recognise you straight off.”

“I am  _ not _ ,” Ronny protested, pinching his brow in frustration.

Maiza laughed. “You really are.”

“While I do find it hard to understand how people could forget me, given I have a recognisable speech pattern and catchphrase, human memory is not infallible.” Ronny’s expression was one of pained disgust. “But no matter. My point is, Maiza, my feelings don’t get hurt like you and yours. Your concerns about my intent are more than understandable. I am, after all, called a demon by some. There are those who think I might be in pursuit of your immortal soul.” 

“Nobody who’s met you could make that mistake,” Maiza commented and felt Ronny chuckle softly. “What are you in pursuit of? Beyond your own entertainment and distracting me from my own problems? That can’t be all there is to it.”

Ronny shrugged. “Why not?”

“Because people don’t just kiss out of nowhere. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good kiss and it’s not that I find you unappealing in any way but you’re a friend. And usually people should be more than friends...there should be more to it than entertainment and distraction.”

“You don’t have to explain the concept to me, Maiza,” Ronny said, smiling sardonically. “And I don’t see why not. Why not? You said it yourself, you aren’t exactly opposed to it. Why should there be an arbitrary line around friendship anyway? The distinction strikes me as meaningless. Why not enjoy the company of a friend, someone you trust?” Ronny looked at him, those sharp amber eyes meeting his. “You do trust me, don’t you Maiza?”

“Of course,” Maiza replied, more surprised by the question than his own answer. 

Ronny found this amusing at any rate, leaning in again. He was very close now, breath hot against Maiza’s cheek. Maiza knew he’d gone red. “Say the word, and I’ll go,” he said again, for the second time that night.

Maiza swallowed his own nerves. “Well, no matter,” he murmured, and heard Ronny laugh. 

Then on impulse, he kissed him.

The look of sheer smugness on Ronny’s face was so very Ronny.

Maiza didn’t stop.

When he did, he breathed, catching his breath and savouring the scents Ronny brought with him.

“Thank you,” Maiza whispered, leaning against Ronny, half-asleep. “For everything.”

He couldn’t see Ronny’s face but he was positive he was smirking, could picture the exact expression as he said, as always, those words. He couldn’t go five minutes without saying them, could he? Casual, effortlessly dismissive, a vein of superiority running throughout. 

“ _ Well, no matter _ .”

 

-

 

Sunlight streaming in through the curtains and Maiza blinked himself awake. He lay back in bed; staring up at the ceiling and slowly sitting up.

The other side of the bed was empty, uncreased. There was no sign Ronny had even been there. Maiza wasn’t surprised. This was exactly like Ronny. He didn’t doubt last night had happened, or else he had been having very strange dreams about Ronny all of a sudden. But no, vanishing into the aether without so much as a ‘well, no matter’, that was Ronny’s style. So no, Maiza wasn’t disappointed. Not much.

He could smell cigarette smoke. And coffee.

He rose, dressing swiftly, before heading through to the kitchen where he found the kettle whistling away in a plume of steam. Somewhat puzzled, he moved it off the heat.

“I made breakfast, by the way,” Ronny said from behind him, making Maiza start a little. He turned to see the demon, sharply-dressed and smirking as always. He relaxed. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d eaten Ronny’s cooking and honestly, it wasn’t bad, even if Maiza wasn’t altogether sure he cooked the food normally all the time. Ronny was infuriatingly good at pretty much everything, including being beyond infuriating. It was a talent of his.

“Is this what you do now?” Maiza couldn’t help but ask. “Keep house like some domestic...I don’t know what?” He wondered if he’d overstepped but Ronny didn’t seem to care.

“It would appear so. Lo, how the mighty have fallen.Well, no matter. I made bacon, sausage and eggs. Sunnyside up, if that’s alright with you. I didn’t think you’d want over-easy, given I’ve heard you express your disgust in the past. Cream, no sugar for your coffee, correct.

Maiza nodded wordlessly. “I know for a fact there weren’t any eggs in.”

“Is that so? Well. No matter.” Mischief glinted in Ronny’s eyes. 

“There’s no need to show off, Ronny. I already know what you’re capable of.”

“No,” Ronny corrected. “You don’t. Not by half.”

“True,” Maiza conceded, a shiver running down his spine at the reminder of Ronny’s nature. And he felt so oddly amused once more that Ronny was choosing to keep him company, making breakfast. It was strange, really it was. “Still. You didn’t need to.”

“Ah, Maiza. Your pleas fall on deaf ears.” Ronny grinned wickedly. “Needless melodrama is, as you have pointed out, my forte. I’ve spent millennia honing it to an art form, it’d be a shame to let it go to waste. But no matter. On the topic of things it’d be a shame to waste, breakfast.”

Rolling his eyes, Maiza followed Ronny to the dining table where neat plates of still-steaming food waited. Ronny passed him his coffee and they sat down to eat. Maiza eyed the eggs suspiciously, but they tasted just fine, seasoned exactly how he liked them. Sipping his coffee he looked across the table at Ronny, who was leaning in his chair and smoking lazily.

“What now? Is this...is this a thing  _ we _ do now?”

“Do you want it to be?” Ronny asked calmly. 

“Well...yes, somewhat,” Maiza replied sheepishly. 

“Glad we got that cleared up.” Ronny took a long drag from his cigarette. “Honestly Maiza, how many times do we have to go around in the same circle? It’s almost as if you don’t want yourself to be happy. Am I on the mark?”

Maiza sighed. “Yes. You are. You always are, aren’t you?”

“Not always,” Ronny corrected. “Take last night, for example. That’s at least one time I was not on the mark, and I’m sure there are others but I can’t think of them right now.” Maiza couldn’t help chuckling at the sheer arrogance. Ronny fixed him with a look. “But no, seriously Maiza. What do you want out of this?”

“I don’t really know,” Maiza admitted. “I liked this a lot, just...companionship, I guess? Something like that.” He reached across the table for Ronny’s hand.

“Understood,” Ronny chuckled.  “That’s a solid start. At the very least, it should garner some interesting results.” Maiza nodded, saying nothing. “Maiza?” Ronny was looking at him curiously.

“Yes Ronny?” To be honest, he expected some other such question, in a similar line of inquiry to earlier.

“Would  you say you were won over by my devilish charm and looks?” He was definitely teasing now, spark of mischief glinting in his eyes. 

“I would not say that, no Ronny,” Maiza replied, smiling. “That is not what I would say.”

“Oh. Shame,” Ronny replied offhandedly. “And there I thought I was being winning. Charismatic, even. Regardless, I’ll be here as long as you need companionship and distraction.” He squeezed Maiza’s hand. “We should be going. There’s business to attend to.”

“Yes. Yes there is,” Maiza finished the last of his breakfast and downed his coffee. “Ronny?”

“Yes?” Ronny asked, undoubtedly wondering what inane question Maiza had for him now. 

Maiza grabbed his tie and pulled him in, leaning across the table for a kiss. “I believe that attends to some of the business.”

So it did.

He kissed Ronny, and Ronny kissed him, and the dream from last night was left in dreams, in shadow. Right now there was this, and the light of day.

Right now there was business to attend to.

This being part of it.


End file.
